Last Game
Edinson Volquez blew away the last of the cobwebs from his Tommy John surgery recovery last night, pitching 8 innings of 1-run baseball against the Milwaukee Brewers. The 4-3 win increased the Reds lead over the losing Cardinals to 8 games and the elimination number to 4. Volquez also made an excellent claim to a postseason start with his excellent outing. The game would have been almost drama free, had it not been for Francisco Cordero and the defense being less than solid in the 9th. Cordero did pull himself together to strike out Carlos Gomez to end the game.

Next Game
Johnny Cueto goes to the mound tonight to try to decrease the magic number further. His opponent will be Randy Wolf. Game-time is 8:10pm EDT.

Edmonds and Dickerson Tied Together Again
During last night’s game, Jim Edmonds was a late replacement for Joey Votto, who was taken out of the lineup thanks to a sinus infection. Edmonds hit a solo homerun, but injured himself running the bases. He may be out for the rest of the season.

In the trade that brought him from the Brewers to the Reds, Cincinnati sent Chris Dickerson. In a nice bit of symmetry, Dickerson also left last night’s game with a leg injury. He strained a hamstring.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Dusty Baker won his 1,400th game as a manager last night. He’s 238-238 with the Reds, and 1400-1279 overall.

Last Game
The Reds offense disappeared again yesterday, and they had to settle for a series tie against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They lost 3-1 after another good start from Edinson Volquez. Whether it’s what he worked on in Dayton or just having healed that much more from Tommy John surgery, Volquez is making his statement to be a starter in the playoffs.

Next Game
The last road trip of the season starts today as the Reds travel to Houston to face the Astros. Johnny Cueto will go for his 13th win, while Wandy Rodriguez will go for his 12th (and to bring his record to .500). First pitch is at 8:05pm EDT.

Baker Backs Cordero
First and foremost, Dusty Baker is a player’s manager. Although this has been a source of criticism in year’s past, this year, it’s been a trait that I’ve enjoyed.

Unlike Tony La Russa, who verbally attacks his own players in the media, Baker always backs his guys publicly. The most recent example came after closer Francisco Cordero’s recent struggles. After Jay Bruce bailed out Coco in the penultimate game against the Diamondbacks, the discussion with the press turned toward Aroldis Chapman and the public clamoring for him to become the closer.

“It hasn’t changed. Chapman just learned how to relieve,” Baker said. “That eighth inning and seventh inning is a whole lot easier than that ninth inning. Is this the place to experiment with that? With the guy that hasn’t been there? In case he doesn’t do it, do I go back to Coco and say, ‘Hey man, I was just kidding.’ Then you lose both of them.

“There are some people that didn’t like [stuff] I did at the start of the season,” Baker said. “They didn’t like my lineup. They didn’t like this. They didn’t like that. I can’t worry about those people. Those people don’t manage this ballclub. Those people don’t understand the psychological dynamics of your ballclub.

“There were people that wanted [Chris] Dickerson to play and they started booing Dickerson. They wanted [Laynce] Nix. There’s people that wanted [Jay] Bruce sent to the Minor Leagues. There were people that wanted [Chris] Heisey to play every day. There are people that wanted [Drew] Stubbs sent to the Minors. There were people that wanted [Nick] Masset out of here at the beginning. … I’m not worried about what people say because people go on who’s hot at the time. I have to look at the overall big picture, the dynamics and the psychology of my ballclub.”

It’s nice to see a boss back his employees. It seems like a no-brainer, but so often, managers are happy to throw workers under the bus. And this is me giving credit to Baker for handling this situation correctly.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Brandon Phillips leads all starting National League 2nd basemen with a fielding percentage of .995. and 390 assists. He has committed just 3 errors all year.

Last Game
The Cincinnati Reds lost 3-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, but the Reds’ Magic Number went down another notch thanks to the Cardinals again losing to the Cubs. (It’s nice to know the Cubs can succeed at something once in a while.) You can monitor the Magic Number in the handy box on the top-right of the RHM site, by the way.

The Reds offense struggled again, despite that one game resurgence in the opener against Arizona. The Reds did come close to another of their trademark last-minute wins, loading the bases in the 9th, but Ramon Hernandez’s shot to the gap in right field was chased down by Justin Upton to end the game.

Next Game
The Reds play game 3 of 4 against the Diamondbacks tonight when Homer Bailey takes on Joe Saunders. Game-time is 7:10pm EDT.

Changes to Baseball Schedule in 2011
The Red released their 2011 schedule yesterday, confirming Major League Baseball’s plan to move up the start of the schedule to end the playoffs before November.

Next year, Opening Day will fall on Thursday, March 31. My only concern is that this doesn’t curtail the Reds from turning Opening Night into an event. The Opening Night festivities that they had this year were a blast.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Bronson Arroyo’s last start resulted in his 15th win of the 2010 season. This marks his third year in a row with 15 or more wins. The last Reds starter to do that was Tom Browning. Of the current active major leaguers, only 3 other pitchers have done the same: Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, and C. C. Sabathia.